ArtistInfo

Mestre Nago

BR

A.k.a. Sérgio Souza Oliveira

Sérgio Souza Oliveira Mestre Nagô practices capoeira since 1970. He lives and teaches in Rio de Janeiro. Mestre Nagô is one of the supervisors of Abadá-capoeira in the Southeastern region of Brazil. Sergio Souza de Oliveira better known in the capoeira scene as Mestre Nagô is one of the very few capoeira masters that conform the worldwide Abadá-capoeira organization. Originally from Rio de Janeiro, Mestre Nagô began to play capoeira at the age of 14 with friends from the neighborhood. As a young boy in Rio de Janeiro street rodas around the city were abundant and Mestre Nagô was always ready to go play capoeira with friends. At the age of 17, Mestre Nagô overheard a friend talk about traveling the world performing capoeira at a street roda in Rio. Inspired by the idea of traveling to unimaginable places Mestre Nagô started to see capoeira as more than just a form of self-defense or a way to have a good time. Invited by the same friend who commented on traveling the world with capoeira, Mestre Nagô attended a 'batizado' where Mestre Camisa mesmerized the audience with his skills and instantly felt he had found where he belonged. In 1978 at the age of 22, Sergio Oliveira de Souza started training with Mestre Camisa at the Regatta Guanabara Club in Rio de Janeiro and soon became to be known as Nagô. In a span of two months Mestre Nagô received his blue cord, the rank of 'aluno graduado' given by Mestre Camisa and soon he decided to pursue capoeira as a career. He quite his job as a metal worker and became a full time professional capoeirista. Trainings, batizados, street rodas with legendary capoeiristas from Rio de Janeiro and performances around the country were priorities on Nagô, Camisa, and alunos formados Claudio Moreno, Arara and Mula agendas. In 1982 Mestre Nagô made his first travel to Montreal, Canada with Mestre Camisa Roxa’s “Brasil Tropical” performance company, the first of many other trips Mestre Nagô had dream about. In 1984 Mestre Nagô received the rank of Mestrando. His discipline, character, experience and wisdom gained throughout the years turned Nagô into a master in the art and in August 2001, after 23 years of training, Abadá-capoeira recognized him as Mestre. During the same year Mestre Nagô opened his own capoeira academy in his beloved neighborhood of Nova Iguaçu in Rio de Janeiro. Throughout the years Mestre Nagô has visited more than 20 countries as guest on events/encounters and teaching workshops. Some of these countries include Angola, Germany, Japan, Austria, United States, among many more. Mestre Nagô work in the community has been recognized by the city of Rio de Janeiro that honored him with a prestigious award among other distinguished figures of the city such as doctors, lawyers and politicians. Copied from http://www.abadadc.org/

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